5-15-09

 
5-15-09
Merced Sun-Star
Media spotlight turns to UC Merced...DANIELLE GAINES
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/847027.html
Hundreds of journalists from the world round will descend on Merced this weekend.
More than 49 media outlets have registered with the UC Merced office of communications to cover first lady Michelle Obama's commencement address.
Other news agencies are still expressing interest, or will be running video or articles from pool reporters.
"I would say yesterday was my busiest day," UC Merced spokeswoman Tonya Luiz said. "We had a lot of interest from local media from the beginning. The national media has really picked up this week."
Among those companies definitely planning to attend are Reuters, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, National Public Radio, the BBC, Fox News Network, and several other newspaper and television stations.
Luiz said C-SPAN and some of the network evening news broadcasts have also expressed interest in attending the ceremony.
Producers from Anderson Cooper 360, a primetime news talk show on CNN, were in town Thursday and interviewed Efferman Ezell and Sam Fong, two students who spearheaded the "Dear Michelle" campaign that persuaded the first lady to Merced. The show aired Thursday evening.
Fong said the interview lasted about an hour. "I can't believe it," he said after the taping ended. "I just called my family. My mom is trying to find a way to record it."
NBC's "Today Show" also interviewed students and campus leadership on campus Thursday.
Earlier this week, The New York Times published an article about the ceremony.
Wednesday evening, Luiz e-mailed a media advisory with planning information for news outlets, which generated even more interest in the event.
Since Wednesday night, Luiz has received additional credential requests from the China News Service, CBS Evening News and U-Wire, a wire service that shares news articles from college campuses.
On the day of the ceremony, news agencies are expected to arrive on campus as early as 5:30 a.m.
Many of the out-of-town reporters are staying at hotels in Fresno and Modesto, or are driving into Merced on Saturday, Luiz said.
The demand has caused a local apartment complex, Summertrace Resort, to open their model unit as a rentable room. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit is available for $300 for one night, or $500 for the weekend, manager Joy Montgomery said.
About 12,000 people are expected on the 1,200-student campus Saturday.
First Class: Ready to share stage with Obama...DANIELLE GAINES
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/847052.html
UC Merced senior Jason Castillo is comfortable with public speaking.
The 21-year-old Clovis native will need to be this Saturday, when he addresses his class -- and their 11,000 guests -- as the student speaker at the campus' commencement ceremony.
Castillo earned the honor to perform through an audition process in March...
Castillo's devotion to the campus earned him another distinction this year as well -- the university's Legacy Award...
As a Straus Fellow, Castillo created a "Science in the Central Valley" outreach program to promote medical education to high school students from Merced to Visalia...
Castillo said he'll try to continue the program when he starts his own medical education at UCSF this fall.
Graduating UC Merced with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and a degree in human biology with an emphasis in cell biology and development, Castillo was invited to interview at eight medical schools, including UCSF and Duke. After he got accepted to San Francisco, he didn't even go to three of the interviews...
Castillo doesn't know what type of medical practice he wants to open. For now, he's drawn to reconstructive plastic surgery or endocrinology.
Whatever he chooses, it will be a specialty that makes a difference in the world, he said. Ideally, he would like to help underserved populations in the Central Valley. "I wouldn't want to be a doctor where there is a surplus of physicians," Castillo said. "I want to be in a place where I feel like I am making a difference."
That is something he's done in more than one way during his four years in Merced.
"Always there to promote, protect, and assist the university, he will leave a powerful legacy," Nies said at the awards night.
And part of it will be behind a microphone on a memorable day for thousands of Mercedians and others.
Capital Corp of the West files for backruptcy...SCOTT JASON
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/847051.html
Capital Corp of the West, the parent company of what was County Bank, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with debts totaling $68 million.
With the loss of its main enterprise in February, the parent company's bankruptcy was inevitable.
Capital Corp of the West has about $6.7 million in cash and other assets, according to bankruptcy filings published Monday.
The records name some of the people who lost the most when County Bank was seized by the government.
Most of it debts are to financial institutions, though it has 10 million stock shares that are now worthless and workers left without retirement plans.
Calls to Chief Financial Officer David Heaberlin, who's overseeing the bankruptcy, weren't returned.
The company has about 800 debtors across the nation.
Records show it owes $25 million to Wilmington Trust Co, in Delaware, $25 million to U.S. Bank National Association and $6 million to State Street Bank and Trust Co. of Connecticut.
Another $652,881 is owed to a Minneapolis company for computers, equipment and office furnishings and $132,457 is owed to a North Carolina software firm.
Of the 20 largest unsecured claims, 14 are for the cash value of managements' retirement plans, amounting to about $11 million.
Besides listing its debt, the filings retell the story of County Bank's fall.
The bank had $2.1 billion in assets when 2007 ended. Much of its lending was to developers rapidly building new neighborhoods in Merced and the Valley.
As the market's bottom fell out, County Bank was forced to put more and more money aside -- even on loans that weren't late on payments.
In late 2007, one major local developer sold homes for less than 50 percent of similar sales, forcing values down lower, according to the filings. Developers began defaulting as home sales dried up. Foreclosures increased, depressing prices more.
The company tried hard to drum up more cash to offset the losses, but the bad news continued to mount, and investors were scarce and presumably scared.
County Bank also failed to be awarded any Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.
After the seizure, Capital Corp of the West sold Bay View Funding and netted $5.6 million. It also sold its 4,731 shares of Farmers & Merchants stock for $1.6 million.
Westamerica recently signed a lease with the city to move into one of the slots in the downtown parking structure.
County Bank's Main Street headquarters, owned by the FDIC, is in the midst of being appraised and a real estate agent may be hired soon.
Loose Lips: Yet another salvo in the airport war
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/847035.html
Saturday will be an historic day for Merced. It will put us on the mysterious map (just as every Big Event has done). It will expose us to a national audience. It will fulfill every other cliché elected officials could yank out of their brains for a reporter.
Most importantly, and least talked about, is that it will settle the Merced County Airport Duel between Castle Airport and Merced Regional Airport.
Which one will land first lady Michelle Obama?
The score is about equal. Merced city's airport hosted Oprah during her Merced visit. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger prefers Castle.
Sources are mum, though the buzz is that it may be Castle.
The Board of Supes recently approved a landscaping project, and crews have been busy sprucing up the entrance, including cutting back foliage and moving the monument to the 93d Bombardment Wing to the air museum.
Coincidence? Maybe.
Or maybe they're trying to make the former Air Force Base shine by putting lipstick on a pig.
But if Obama's plane lands at Castle, the only way for the city to top that is to get Mr. President here. Just as the UC students did, city leaders might want to start a letter campaign.
Our View: Dropout rates still too high
State's rate is declining -- county's is better -- but there's still much room for improvement.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/181/v-print/story/847059.html
The dropout rate in California's public schools is improving, but there are still too many young people leaving school before they get high school diplomas.
California must adopt an aggressive program to keep students in school, and taxpayers must be willing to pay for this investment in our quality of life.
The high number of dropouts costs us in many ways -- from having young people relegated to lives that fall well below their potential to the added taxpayer burden when many of them get on public assistance and get involved in the criminal justice system.
It doesn't mean that every high school dropout won't succeed, but dropouts limit their opportunities by not finishing school.
Compared with graduates, dropouts have higher rates of unemployment, lower earnings, poorer health, higher death rates, higher rates of criminal behavior and incarceration, and greater dependence on public assistance, according to a study from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
So we all have a stake in getting more students to graduate from high school. An investment in early intervention will pay us back many times in more productive citizens.
The state just released the latest dropout numbers, and the overall dropout rate for California high school students improved slightly. In 2007-2008, 20.1 percent dropped out, while the previous year's rate was 21.1 percent.
State Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said progress is being made, but the "dropout rate in California is still unacceptably high."
Merced County had an 18.8 percent average dropout rate for the 2007-2008 school year, well under the state average.
"While it is positive to hear that Merced County's high schools' dropout rates are near the state average and that some are significantly above the average, we can do better," said Lee Andersen, Merced County superintendent of schools.
But in individual districts the rates fluctuated greatly from 23.3 percent in the Delhi Unified School district to 7.5 percent in Los Banos.
Merced Union High School District, the largest high school district in the county, had an adjusted four-year derived dropout rate for 2007-2008 of 15.3 percent.
"Different student groups have different dropout rates, indicating that some students are at a disadvantage when it comes to having a chance to complete high school and ultimately be competitive in the job market," Andersen said. "Latino and African-American rates are much higher than for whites in Merced County, as they are for the state."
"This situation calls for action, and school districts in Merced County are working to close the dropout rate gaps as well as the academic achievement gaps," he said.
O'Connell said the state is assisting school districts in attacking the dropout problem.
"We cannot afford to wait until a dropout becomes a statistic," he said.
O'Connell also said the latest dropout statistics show "alarmingly high dropout rates among African-American and Hispanic students" and more must be done to keep those groups of students in school.
We must do more to keep all children in school. The latest dropout report shows that our public schools still haven't figured out how to educate all children.
Modesto Bee
Rural Calif. campus primps for Mrs. Obama's visit...GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer
http://www.modbee.com/state/v-print/story/703566.html
MERCED, Calif. -- Four years ago, the University of California, Merced could scarcely attract enough students to fill its classrooms.
Now it is struggling to accommodate a crowd of 12,000 and national television crews set to descend on the fledgling campus Saturday, when Michelle Obama gives the commencement address before its jubilant first full senior class.
University officials say winning such a coveted speaking engagement by the first lady will lift the reputation of a school once considered the poor stepchild of California's public university system.
But her visit is also presenting UC Merced with fresh challenges: namely, how to raise the $700,000 needed to cover the ballooning cost of this year's graduation ceremony. Before Mrs. Obama accepted, officials had budgeted only $100,000.
Then, there is the question of how to accommodate so many spectators on an as-yet unfinished campus built on a former cattle ranch, miles from anything urban.
As construction workers set up the speaker's stage and lined up rows of rented chairs Thursday, faculty, staff and even members of the College Republicans club were celebrating the 493-member senior class' successful campaign to woo Mrs. Obama.
"Most people don't have any clue that there is a university all the way out here, so the fact that she's coming is amazing," said the club's treasurer Michael Fincher, a 19-year-old freshman.
Set in the middle of California's vast agricultural basin, the campus is surrounded by miles of dry pasture grass, a solitary landscape punctuated only by the occasional tree and the distant outline of the Sierra Nevada range.
Merced, a city of 76,000, boasts none of the urban cachet of Los Angeles and Berkeley, home to the UC system's better-known sister campuses. Since the school opened in 2005, however, it has achieved accolades for its topflight faculty and state-of-the-art research facilities located within driving distance of Yosemite National Park, 90 miles to the northeast.
"I thought there was a chance the campaign to invite the first lady here would work, because we are a new, modern university and the Obamas are new in their presidency," said Chancellor Steve Kang. "It was the students who really made this happen. In bringing her here, they gave us a huge gift that no money can buy."
UC Merced boasts the highest percentage of first-generation college students and financially needy students, and one of the most ethnically diverse student bodies in the 10-campus public system.
The startup campus - which will ultimately expand to house 25,000 students, up from the current student body of 2,700 - already has faced its share of problems.
First, there was a nasty court fight with environmentalists who sued over the school's plans to expand onto protected wetlands where endangered species dwell. Campus architects adjusted their blueprints to create an award-winning environmentally friendly complex.
Last summer, a doctoral student was arrested for allegedly stealing school supplies to build a meth lab. And in January, as thousands of local families abandoned town houses they could not afford, Merced became known as an epicenter of the foreclosure crisis.
Members of the university's pioneer undergraduate class, who have been founding new student organizations and setting up sports teams since they started, were not phased. Beginning in February, students organized a nonstop campaign to draw the first lady to the campus, bombarding her office with letters, e-mails - even hundreds of Valentine cards.
Seniors set up a Facebook page for "The 'Dear Michelle' Campaign" to attract attention and direct students' efforts.
The effort included pleas from students and their families, faculty and local residents, and an animated video a student made on a laptop in his dorm room and posted on YouTube. It was called "We Believe in Michelle Obama."
Mrs. Obama accepted the invitation because she wanted to commend the students for their achievements and to encourage them to keep aiming high, said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, the first lady's press secretary.
"Of course she is incredibly moved," McCormick Lelyveld said. "The First Lady is honored to deliver the commencement address to the first graduating class of a school that provides education and opportunities to a new generation of Americans."
Even in the midst of California's budget crisis, administrators say they are optimistic they can raise the $700,000 without raising student fees.
While students crammed for finals in recent weeks, construction workers lay fresh sod on the campus lawn, converted the school's athletics field into an amphitheater and paved a road to the area where the first lady will speak.
Officials in Merced are preparing the first ever Cap & Town festival, a daylong block party with a Jumbotron set in the sleepy downtown.
Mrs. Obama's appearance - her first in California since her husband began his campaign for the White House - will also draw local politicians to the fledgling campus, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and about a dozen UC regents.
As heifers munched on dry pasture grass surrounding the gleaming academic facilities, Sam Fong, a 22-year-old business major active in the campaign, contemplated his four years on campus.
"When we came here there were only a few buildings," said Fong, of Fremont. "Everything that is in place here we had to do ourselves. We thrive in the face of adversity."
Environmentalists challenge BLM's NV resource plan...SANDRA CHEREB, Associated Press Writer
http://www.modbee.com/state/v-print/story/703470.html
RENO, Nev. -- An environmental group says it plans to sue two federal agencies, claiming a public lands management plan adopted last year for more than 17,000 square miles in Nevada amounts to "ecological disaster" for nearly a dozen protected species.
In a filing sent this week to the Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service, the Center for Biological Diversity gave 60-day notice of its intent to sue over the Ely Resource Management Plan unless measures are taken to remedy what it says are violations of the Endangered Species Act.
The resource plan governs grazing, mining, energy development and off-road vehicle use on public lands in the area that encompasses White Pine, Lincoln and portions of Nye counties. It also includes the sale of federally owned land for three proposed coal-fired power plants.
The center alleges that a "biological opinion" of the plan is flawed and fails to adequately analyze the effects such activities will have on habitat and species.
"The Ely Resource Management Plan commits to ecological disaster," said Amy Atwood, a lawyer and public lands energy director at the center. "It perpetuates off-road vehicle use in desert tortoise critical habitat and does nothing to promote conservation and recovery of the many rare species in the planning area."
Besides the desert tortoise, listed as a threatened species, the center says the area contains habitat for seven species of threatened or endangered fish, an endangered bird, the southwestern willow flycatcher and a threatened wild orchid, the Ute ladies' tresses.
Bob Williams, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Reno, said in a statement that his agency just received the center's notice of intent and was reviewing it.
Under the Endangered Species Act, 60-day notice is required before a lawsuit can be filed.
Two of the three proposed coal-fired power plants within the area are near Ely and have been put on hold by their backers. The third, proposed in southern Nevada near Mesquite, is seeking permits.
The center argues that by including the power plants in the plan the agencies are required to conduct a detailed analysis of their environmental consequences.
Calif court loosens restrictions on park sales...last updated: May 14, 2009 01:06:37 PM
http://www.modbee.com/state/v-print/story/703369.html
SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state's regional park districts are free to sell some of their vast land holdings without first gaining voter approval.
The unanimous ruling overturned two lower court decisions barring the Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District from selling 161 acres to a community college.
State law prohibits districts from selling land dedicated to park use without voter approval, and the lower courts ruled the land is dedicated when it's purchased.
The Riverside park district and six other such districts argued that those decisions would force them to spend millions of dollars on elections for many minor land deals that are now handled by district staff. The districts also complained that the election requirement could hinder their acquisition of new land if they are barred from easily selling it later.
The state Supreme Court sided with the park districts and said their property isn't dedicated until the districts' governing boards take formal action.
There are eight regional park districts in the state, including the East Bay Regional Park District, which contains 65 parks, 97,000 acres of land and more than 1,000 miles of trails.
Fresno Bee
Merced grads leave mark
Those who took chance on new UC helped establish campus...Editorial
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/v-print/story/1405770.html
Those of us who supported the establishment of the University of California at Merced see Saturday's commencement ceremonies as a landmark event for a campus that many of the state's most powerful politicians didn't want to build. One even called it the "biggest boondoggle ever."
But UC Merced supporters overcame the resistance and the campus finally opened in 2005. On Saturday, its pioneer class of students will be getting diplomas at a ceremony that will feature first lady Michelle Obama.
The first lady's appearance has made this a high-profile event, and that should help the campus recruit future students. But Saturday's ceremony is about the 517 graduates. They and their families are to be commended for taking a chance on a new university, and then following through by finishing their rigorous course work amid the campus' growing pains.
These graduates not only had to attend to their academic responsibilities, but also create a campus environment. The campus now has 100 clubs to serve the student body of about 2,700. UC Merced officials say the students have cultivated a "culture of social responsibility and civic engagement."
Not too bad for a campus that wasn't even completed when the trailblazing students arrived for their first classes. But the makeshift classrooms gave way to state-of-the-art academic buildings. Now UC Merced will be on the national stage for a day, thanks to the first lady's appearance.
The graduates showed their ingenuity in the campaign they used to land the first lady as their commencement speaker. Their "Dear Michelle" campaign included sending 900 handwritten valentines to the first lady to persuade her to accept their invitation to speak at UC Merced. There also was a "Dear Michelle" page on Facebook. The first lady's office said she was touched by the students' campaign.
We have been critical of the $700,000 the university is spending on the commencement ceremony because of the Obama appearance. But that should not detract from the accomplishments of the students on their special day.
This 10th UC campus has been embraced by the San Joaquin Valley, and it holds great promise for the region. It is in the process of creating a medical school that will graduate doctors to serve a region with too few physicians.
The campus also has a special mission to address the higher-education needs of the San Joaquin Valley. The university is also connecting with the region's environment through the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, and is developing its Biomedical Sciences Research Institute and Energy Research Institute.
Future UC Merced students will thank members of the Class of 2009 for the role they played in establishing this university. We thank them today.
UC Merced's pioneer class will have big day Saturday...Jim Boren
http://fresnobeehive.com/opinion/2009/05/uc_merceds_pioneer_
class_will.html
The graduates of the University of California, Merced who will get their diplomas Saturday were trailblazers. They not only had to attend to their academic responsibilities, but also create a campus environment. UC Merced now has 100 clubs to serve the student body of about 2,700. UC Merced officials say the students have cultivated a "culture of social responsibility and civic engagement."
Not too bad for a campus that wasn't even completed when the trailblazing students arrived for their first classes in the fall of 2005. On this big day, first lady Michelle Obama will be the commencement speaker.
Sacramento Bee
Sacramento region mortgage delinquencies on the rise...Jim Wasserman
http://www.sacbee.com/business/v-print/story/1863213.html
An estimated 8.5 percent of mortgages in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties were 90 days or more delinquent as March ended, First American CoreLogic reported Thursday.
The number revealed the worsening condition of thousands of borrowers in the capital region over the past 12 months. In March 2008, payments on 6.3 percent of mortgages were three months or more late.
On March 31, 76,229 mortgages in the four counties were in some stage of the foreclosure process that begins with an official warning of late payments and ends with repossession.
On March 31, 2008, 46,936 area mortgages were in some part of that foreclosure process, said Santa Ana-based First American.
The yearlong deterioration, a result of rising unemployment and falling prices that have blocked many from refinancing out of problem loans, spurred an average of 208 foreclosure filings daily in the capital region. Those included notices of default, the first warnings when borrowers fall several months behind; notices of foreclosure sale, when the property is scheduled for auction; and notices after the auction.
In California, 8.8 percent of outstanding mortgages were 90 days or more late in March, the research firm reported. In March 2008, 5.3 percent were three months overdue.
Nationally, the problem is slightly less severe. First American reported 6.2 percent of all U.S. mortgages are 90 days or more late – compared with 3.8 percent in March 2008.
Stockton Record
Council OK no end to dispute
Supercenter wrangling likely now up to courts...Daniel Thigpen
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090515/A_NEWS/905150322/-1/A_NEWS
LODI - If Lodi's seven-year Wal-Mart battle were the Tour de France, it's doubtful even Lance Armstrong could compete with the endurance displayed by the political players in this conflict.
Sure, a divided Lodi City Council on Wednesday approved - again - plans to build a 40-acre shopping center anchored by a massive Wal-Mart Supercenter.
But no one has crossed the finish line. It's not even in sight.
Just how much longer the fight is waged depends on a number of possible legal scenarios as Lodi's Supercenter skirmish now exits the political battlefield and enters the judicial arena.
"It's kind of the Wild West," City Attorney Steve Schwabauer said. "Lots of things could happen."
Don't be surprised, for instance, if the fight eventually lands in the lap of the California Supreme Court. Stranger things have happened since developer Darryl Browman first proposed the project in 2002.
Need an idea how long such a legal process could take?
Take Stockton: After lower courts ruled that the city's approval of planned Wal-Mart at Spanos Park West was illegal, the case is before the state high court awaiting a ruling.
Stockton approved that store in 2004.
Such a possibility, for now, is a long way off for Lodi.
After city leaders lobbed the project back and forth for months, culminating with Wednesday's 3-2 vote in Wal-Mart's favor, the project is on its way back to San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Humphreys.
In 2005, Humphreys reversed the city's original Supercenter approval, calling a study of the shopping center's environmental impacts "legally defective."
That study has since been revised, argued and approved. But Humphreys still must sign off on it. Lawyers on both sides expect to make their case in a couple of months.
That is if new lawsuits aren't filed first, something many are expecting. If that happens, Humphreys would have the option of consolidating all the actions into one.
Attorneys for the two groups fighting the Supercenter - Lodi First and Citizens for Open Government - said Thursday they have not yet decided whether they will file new lawsuits.
They have 30 days from the time the city files notice with the county that the City Council approved the project.
CSU honors developer Fritz Grupe...The Record
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090515/A_BIZ/905150308
Stockton developer Fritz Grupe will be honored tonight for his achievements in business and civic leadership by the California State University, Stanislaus, College of Business Administration.
Grupe, chief executive and chairman of Grupe Co., is to receive the Outstanding Business Leader Award, one of nine honors to be presented to community and business leaders from throughout the region during the annual awards dinner at the CSU campus in Turlock.
Grupe's company, one of the largest privately held real estate concerns in the country, was launched in 1966 and has now includes single-family home construction, commercial developments and management of apartment and condominium projects.
In particular, CSU officials noted Grupe Co.'s groundbreaking sensitivity to environmental concerns, crafting projects nationwide "in which nature and people can flourish together."
Grupe is active in the Valley community, serving as co-chairman of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley. He founded the San Joaquin County Business Council, served on President George W. Bush's special commission on regulatory barriers to affordable housing, is past president of the Urban Land Institute, former chapter chairman and national university chairman for the Young Presidents organization and a past president of the Stockton Chamber of Commerce and Board of Realtors.
Also, Grupe served on the advisory board of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, was a University of the Pacific regent and is on the UC Merced Foundation Board of Trustees.
Power plans bring heat
Farmers charge transmission lines will be disruptive...Reed Fujii
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090515/A_BIZ/905150309
TRACY - About 70 people packed a meeting room Thursday morning at Old River Golf Course to voice their concerns, frustration, questions and, in some cases, anger over plans to build high-voltage transmission lines crisscrossing western and southern San Joaquin County.
The Transmission Agency of Northern California hopes to build 80 to 90 miles of lines strung on 100- to 150-foot-tall towers southwest from Elk Grove to a Tracy substation and then east to Oakdale. It would be just a part of roughly 600 miles of new and upgraded electric lines and stations stretching from Lassen County to Turlock.
Joe Bacchetti, a San Joaquin Farm Bureau member who helped organize Thursday's meeting, said the project could be particularly troublesome to smaller farm plots of 10 to 40 acres typically found around Tracy.
"This is all small acreages," he said.
One such farm owner, William Borges, said he was highly agitated about the plans and apologized for barely holding his emotions in check.
But with a 40-acre farm, he said, "You put a tower in there, that eliminates me right there."
Even the mere presence of power lines could make it difficult to use crop-dusting services to treat or seed his fields.
"I don't have any room here for towers," said Hiram Sidley, owner of the golf course, which already hosts a set of high-voltage lines as well as a gas transmission line.
These are just the types of concerns the Transmission Agency wants to receive during the public comment period, said Bryan Griess, the agency's assistant general manager.
"That's the whole point of the process, to get input from the public," he told the audience Thursday. While an initial round of public hearings concluded last month, more reviews will be heard as the agency considers both a draft environmental review and final environmental documents over the next two years. Thursday's meeting, hosted by the Farm Bureau, was an informal gathering.
He also noted the proposal is very broadly drawn with as many as three alternate routes in any one area. Ultimately, only one route would be built, and the earliest the project might be completed would be 2014.
"There'll be a lot of refinements as we go through this process," he said.
Many of those in attendance complained they had only recently heard of the project, despite public hearings held in March and April, including events in Stockton and Tracy.
Bacchetti said he'd received no notice, "Other than the two letters to the neighbors, who called me and asked me what was going on."
Jerry Barton, a Ripon walnut grower, said he'd only learned about the meeting Thursday morning, just 30 minutes before it was to start.
Griess said his agency had mailed notices to all potentially affected property owners using an available land parcel database and run legal advertising in area newspapers. (The Record published a news feature about the project March 29).
"I do believe we've done a good job in communications or the best we could," he said.
And while some in attendance suggested the process be delayed so they could submit more informed responses to the plans, others saw the scheduled two- to three-year planning process as too long.
Sidley said it could well delay any planned improvements to his golf course.
"This just puts everything on hold," he said. "We need to know sooner than half a lifetime away."
How to make your feelings known
In response to growing public interest and concern over plans to build about 600 miles of high-voltage transmission lines reaching north to Lassen County and south to Turlock, the Transmission Agency of Northern California has extended its initial public comment period.
Comments, which must be submitted in writing through May 31, can be mailed to David Young, NEPA Document Manager, Western Area Power Administration, Sierra Nevada Region, 114 Parkshore Drive, Folsom, CA 95630; faxed to (916) 353-4772; or e-mailed to TTPEIS@wapa.gov.
For more information about the project, visit the agency Web site at www.tanc.us or call (916) 353-4777. For information about the environmental review process, visit www.wapa.gov/transmission/ttp.htm/ or e-mail TTPEIS@wapa.gov
Ground broken on state's largest ultraviolet water plant...Alex Breitler
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090515/A_NEWS/905150333/-1/rss14
TRACY - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom climbed onto the rubber-tired backhoe and fiddled with the levers. Before the machine roared to life, he turned to San Joaquin County Supervisor Leroy Ornellas and said:
"For the record, supervisor, I have OSHA-approved hair. My old hard hat is right here," pointing to his famously-slicked mane.
And with that bit of self-deprecating humor, Newsom turned earth on a $112 million water treatment plant which - combined with a larger-scale upgrade of San Francisco's water supply infrastructure - will create an estimated 2,300 construction jobs in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.
A liberal, big-city mayor and would-be governor might have little in common with a right-of-center county supervisor and dairyman, but for one day at least Newsom and Ornellas were allies. They sat arm-to-arm during Thursday's groundbreaking ceremony on golden fields south of Tracy, and, when it was over, shared a laugh or two.
"We're buds now," Ornellas said with a smile, linking two fingers. "We're like this."
Many people don't realize that San Francisco's waterworks run through the southwestern portion of the county, part of a complicated linkage of canals and tunnels bringing Sierra Nevada water to the Bay Area.
The treatment plant - the largest in the state to use advanced ultraviolet technology - will clean that water before it flows to the taps of 2.4 million people.
The construction of new water facilities by a big city could easily be cause for alarm in water-aware San Joaquin County.
But the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission last year put off for one decade a controversial plan to increase the amount of water it takes from the Tuolumne River, water that otherwise could flow into the Delta.
Increased demand will be met instead through water conservation, recycling and groundwater, said Ed Harrington, general manager of the commission.
"It's the right balance," he said.
Ornellas said he was not concerned about the water unless San Francisco planned to take more of it. He said San Joaquin County was "proud and happy to have this project."
Newsom has shown willingness to move his gubernatorial campaign into conservative territory. He held a town hall meeting in Fresno at the end of April, his first after announcing his candidacy for governor. He also visited Stockton's University of the Pacific in February.
"Anyone who is going to run for governor has to be willing to come into an area and talk to us," Ornellas said. "I'm glad he came."
Newsom said it was important to build trust between coastal regions and the Valley and said Thursday marked the beginning of a new partnership.
"We are lamenting, all of us ... some of the budget challenges we face," he said. "We have to focus on the economy, create jobs and create opportunity. That's exactly what we're doing."
On water, he said he opposes tearing down the Hetch Hetchy dam as some environmentalists have proposed. For a Delta fix, he said, "everything has to be on the table," including a canal that would move water around rather than through the estuary.
Work on the new treatment facility is expected to last about two years. While few permanent jobs will result from rebuilding San Francisco's waterworks, the projects will create work in San Joaquin County through 2011 and Stanislaus County through 2013, officials said.
"It couldn't come at a better time," Ornellas said.
Manteca Bulletin
Farmers: Power lines will limit use of their land for crops...Jason Campbell
http://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/article/3864/
TRACY – South County  farmers worried that power transmission lines being considered that may severely impact – if not completely take away – their property aren’t holding back.
Dozens poured into the Old River Golf Course in Tracy Thursday morning to meet with members of the Transmission Agency of Northern California – or TANC – who are considering the construction of transmission lines from the Lassen County region over to Redding and eventually down through the San Joaquin Valley before heading over to Santa Clara.
The meeting was organized and sponsored by the San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation.
Representing 15 member agencies – including the Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts – TANC is planning on tapping into the renewable energy available in Northern California to allow for its distribution by the non-profit members that comprise it in order to meet new laws that will eventually require 20 percent of all energy provided to California customers to come from renewable sources.
That number is expected to grow to 33 percent by 2020.
But for family farmers operating on smaller parcels, the placing of a tower that would require a 200-foot easement as well as access and egress points could be disastrous – not to mention that the trees that run under the transmission lines can’t be any taller than 15 feet. They contend it would essentially render that part of their property useless.
According to TANC General Manager Bryan Griess, everything that is being discussed right now is extremely preliminary. It will likely take two years for the Environmental Impact Review to be completed before the agency would proceed with such a massive project.
The lines on the maps that have been listed on the agency’s website, Griess said, are just as preliminary – drawn to show how the route will likely flow but not the definite path that it will take if and when it were to be constructed.
But residents that are waiting in anticipation to see whether their properties will be affected aren’t about the concept of having parcels – some of which have been in families for up to five generations – reduced to nothing or eliminated altogether.
“It’s like we’re putting life on hold here while we wait,” said Hiram Sibley – the owner of Old River who provided the space for Thursday’s meeting. “This is detrimental to all of us because if we want to put something on our land, it’s going to be three or four years before we find out whether that land is still going to be ours.”
On top of the normal planning processes, the project will still have to clear the environmental groups in Northern California that don’t want to see the expansive refuge areas impacted – creating what Griess called a “push-pull” effect between the agricultural community and the environmentalists.
“We have an ever growing amount of land that could be used for this,” Farm Bureau Executive Director Bruce Blodgett said of a strip between the two rivers currently designated for habitat use. “It would be the perfect place bypass houses and farms, but because you have an ant or a rabbit living there then you can’t build anything out there.”
Members of the Farm Bureau said they have contacted Congressman Jerry McNerney – who has experience with renewable energy – for his guidance and assistance on how to proceed.
San Francisco Chronicle
First lady's speech helps put Merced on the map...Kevin Fagan
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/15/MNK517JUPR.DTL&type=printable
First lady Michelle Obama's commencement speech at UC Merced on Saturday is the biggest thing to happen in this sleepy Central Valley city since, well, ever.
"This is something that puts the UC Merced campus on an international stage and gives our city a chance to shine along with it," said Merced city spokesman Mike Conway. "We couldn't be happier."
For her part, the president's wife will experience two things the area is best known for - picturesque cow pastures and blistering 95-degree spring days.
And for everyone else, there will be more good ol' family fun than this town has seen since, well, ever.
A two-day "Cap & Town" festival that begins downtown today is like a county fair on steroids, with everything from goofy human-bowling-ball games to kids flinging themselves against Velcro walls.
Obama's 1:30 p.m. speech, for which no tickets remain, will be broadcast on JumboTrons around town for those who weren't lucky enough to score a pass to hear it in person, and every restaurant will be pitching its cuisine late into the evening.
The festival and the A-list speaker are firsts for Merced - as are many things this weekend, most related in some way to Obama's appearance.
And because of that, everyone - from the 80,608 souls who call Merced home to the 2,718 UC Merced students - is filled with something approaching giddiness.
"We've just never seen anything like this before," said David Martinez, bartender at the Partisan pub downtown, which is bracing for overflow. "We did have Arnold Schwarzenegger drive through here once, and he stopped at a Starbucks. That was pretty big.
"But I think Michelle Obama is definitely going to blow him out of the water."
Yosemite gateway
Until now, Merced has been mainly known as "The Gateway to Yosemite," where you gas up on your way to the national park via Highway 140, and the hometown of actress Janet Leigh and serial killer Cary Stayner. The snazziest event most local can remember is February's Amgen Tour of California bike race, which drew star cyclist Lance Armstrong and 15,000 attendees.
This weekend is expected to attract 25,000 visitors to town and 12,000 to the campus. Although the university is scrambling to come up with $700,000 in donations to pay for the event - it's raised about a quarter of that so far - the city is expecting more than $1 million in business from the swarm of people with cash.
And this is all for a graduation that was supposed to draw only 2,000 people before Obama was charmed by UC students and their heartfelt campaign to get her to speak at their commencement.
Impressed by Obama's can-do attitude and personal rise from working class to Harvard-educated first lady, a student committee wrote her a letter on Jan. 29 asking her to bring her message "of positive change in America." They pointed out that 80 percent of UC Merced's students get financial aid and 49 percent are the first in their families to attend college, and they followed up their plea with 900 hand-done Valentine's Day cards and enthusiastic entreaties on Facebook and YouTube.
Obama gave them the nod on March 27, with her office proclaiming the first lady "likes to connect with students who are passionate."
The 500 students receiving sheepskins Saturday will be the first graduating class that began as freshmen at UC Merced. Opened in 2005 with 1,000 students, UC Merced is the nation's first new research university of the 21st century.
City leaders say the international attention Obama is bringing to Merced is the first time the city has ever shone in such a spotlight and her focus on education can do a lot of good for their city, where 28 percent of residents live below the poverty line and only 14 percent of adults over 25 have bachelor's degrees - half the state average.
"We as a city want to encourage our children all over to become more educated," said Conway. "These graduates this weekend deserve a big pat on the back for what they've done."
Small, but proud, campus
The same pride permeates the campus - which has the smallest enrollment of any UC campus.
UC's other eight undergraduate campuses are jealous, and Merced students are holding their heads high.
"Put to Shame by Merced" was the recent UC Berkeley Daily Californian headline on the commencement coup, even though Berkeley scored "Pursuit of Happyness" author Chris Gardner.
"I hope this helps make the students who come after us ambitious," said senior Yaasha Sabba of San Francisco, who is student body president and helped organize the draft-Obama campaign. "We want them to know that even the little guy can make things happen."
Drought or no drought?...Cameron Scott, The Thin Green Line
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?entry_id=40115
Although California is most often a pioneer of sound environmental policies, it's important not to become too complacent to challenge areas in which there's plenty of room for progress. One such issue is water. It's a hard fought battle in the state, with farmers, cities and environmental groups all vying for more of the stuff.
Nor is the problem limited to the delta and the snowpack. There's also groundwater. And California, unlike most states, does not regulate groundwater.
As farmers get less water from the Sierras, due to low snowfall, and from the San Joaquin Delta, due to environmental protections of fish and ever-expanding urban populations, they are pumping more water out of aquifers. In most states, this water is regulated, even when the aquifer is on private property. That's because emptying the underground water supplies has far-reaching effects, including dramatic changes in the land (see the photo, tracking historic land levels). Underground aquifers are also an important Plan B for the state in case of serious drought.
And state water boards are warning residents that a serious drought is on the way—and with it, rationing. The more accurate description is likely that population has grown so much that even a minor drought will create major problems. That's bad news, because we're certainly already in a minor drought, and climate change threatens to limit the state's water supply still further. Meanwhile the state continues to promise more water—some say as much as 8 times more—than it can deliver.
Warnings of drought may make the problem worse, instead of better. Schwarzenegger's recent drought emergency alert allows him to okay water projects without the usual checks and balances. But the governor's proposals to fix the state's water woes thus far consist of canals and dams—and it doesn't take a civil engineer to know that these projects won't create more water, they'll just move around what little we have. Sooner or later, the state will have to regulate groundwater and get serious about water efficiency measures, and probably even desalination and recycling (and, yes, that does mean toilet-to-tap).
For a great green read on the West's water woes, check out Cadillac Desert.
Three easy tips for conserving water:
    1. Put a plastic water bottle filled with sand or water in your toilet tank for a D.I.Y. low-flow toilet.
    2. Pick up a free faucet aerator at SFPUC (SF residents only).
    3. Try a Navy shower: Turn off the water while you're soaping up and save roughly 5 gallons.
Los Angeles Times
How to get Michelle Obama to your commencement? Try love bombing. It worked for UC Merced...Robin Abcarian, Top of the Ticket 
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/05/michelle-obama-to-give-commencement-speech-for-uc-merceds-first-graduating-class.html
What woman doesn't want to be wooed?
When the first graduating class at the University of California's newest campus, in Merced, decided in January that they'd like to have a very special speaker for their very first commencement, they set their sights high and then behaved like love-struck suitors.
They called their campaign "Dear Michelle."
First, they set up a table in the middle of campus and got 900 students, teachers and staffers to sign Valentines for First Lady Michelle Obama asking her to consider coming to Merced to be their speaker.
They launched a "Dear Michelle" page on Facebook and linked to a template for a letter.
And then they came up with an idea for the most persuasive billet doux of all: a video expressing their admiration for her. It's called "We Believe," and on it, students say "Dear Michelle, We believe in you, and we would be honored if you would be our keynote speaker at the May 16, 2009, Commencement Ceremony of the UC Merced Inaugural Class."
Cheesy? Maybe. But it worked.
On Saturday, Mrs. Obama, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, will be giving her maiden commencement address as first lady to the first graduating class of UC Merced. She could have chosen just about any university in the country, but she clearly has a heart for the underdog. Or, in the case of UC Merced, the Bobcats.
And while hosting a first lady might not make a college in Berkeley or Boston or Chicago swoon, it's hard to overstate the boost her appearance will give to little Merced, where the economic woes of the rest of the state are felt more deeply.
"For the campus, for the city of Merced, for the region, this is one of the most positive things that has happened in a long time," said UC Merced spokeswoman PattiWaig Istas.
Our colleague Larry Gordon wrote the other day about the impact Obama's visit is having on the place.  Indeed UC Merced, with only 2,700 students and tucked into a remote corner of the San Joaquin Valley, never even got a visit from a candidate or a high-profile surrogate during last year's presidential campaign. (And remember, the Democrats fought it out on college campuses all over next-to-no-population Wyoming!)
We predict, having spent some time on the campaign trail with Michelle Obama and following her speeches as first lady, that she will emphasize the importance of service, and perhaps make a joke or two about the burdens of student loans, which she and her husband struggled with until he wrote a best-selling memoir.
We know that her husband was able to joke last night about a little ruckus at Arizona State University, where he delivered the commencement speech. The school opted not to award him an honorary degree since he had yet to produce a "body of work." Officials apologized, but they stuck to their guns and created a scholarship in his name.
The president, to his credit, said he agreed that he has not achieved enough in his life. And Michelle, he added, agrees and has a list of things for him to do when he gets home. Good stuff comes at 2:40.
Alameda Corridor feels effects of trade slowdown
Revenue and traffic fall along with activity at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach. About $2 billion in the rail route's bonds are placed on 'rating watch negative...Ronald D. White
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ports15-2009may15,0,1707512,print.story
The slowdown at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is having a ripple effect on the Alameda Corridor, the 20-mile rail route built to speed the flow of cargo from ships to retail shelves.
Reacting to a swift erosion in the corridor's traffic and revenue, Fitch Ratings recently placed about $2 billion worth of Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority bonds on a "rating watch negative."
That was a signal that the ratings service intends to more closely monitor the corridor's ability to repay its debts.
The corridor authority has enough of a revenue cushion to last until late next year, said its chief executive, John Doherty.
If the situation doesn't improve by then, he said, the agency will have to turn to the governing boards of the ports, which are obligated to cover shortfalls of up to 40% in the authority's annual debt payments.
"It depends on how long this recession goes forward, but as of now we have no issues," Doherty said. "There is no likelihood of a shortfall before late 2010, and if it does occur, the ports will recover what they have paid out when our revenue stream recovers."
For the first quarter, corridor revenue was $17.8 million, down 21% from the same period last year.
The corridor, which opened in 2002, is suffering from the sharp downturn in international trade.
The Port of Los Angeles, the nation's largest cargo gateway, reported Thursday that the number of containers carrying imported goods fell 15% to 279,194 in April from the same month in 2008, while exports dropped 4% to 140,829.
At Long Beach, the No. 2 U.S. container port, inbound loaded containers fell 29% to 199,051 and outbound loaded containers declined 31% to 112,976 in April.
The collapse in international trade has been largely invisible to most people, noticeable perhaps only because of lighter truck traffic on the nation's most heavily traveled freeways. But the industry isn't expected to recover until next year, no doubt adding to last year's 46,000 lost trade jobs locally, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.
"The international trade outlook for 2009 and beyond faces several challenges," said the group's Jack Kyser.
In a trade report issued Wednesday, Kyser and fellow economist Nancy Sidhu projected that the number of containers moving through the twin ports would fall 13.5% this year on top of an 8.9% drop last year. International trade is expected to begin growing again next year, but the ports are expected to see only a 1.6% rise in imports and exports.
Trade tracker Paul Bingham expects traffic into North America's 12 busiest container ports to improve later this year.
"Our bigger-picture forecast is that imports are going to pick up before the end of the year," said Bingham, managing director of global trade and transportation for IHS Global Insight. "You'll see businesses starting to rebuild inventories and consumers starting to spend again. We just don't see much strength in anything before that. The economy is still shrinking; it's just not shrinking as much."
Business is slow at Lantech Systems, a Torrance company that makes high-end computer servers and workstations used for animation and visual effects. In good times, big companies farm out work to smaller contractors that buy Lantech products, which are custom made from parts shipped through the L.A. port. In times like these, there is less work and not much need for more parts.
"We usually order in bulk, but right now the forecasts for that are not there," said Altaf Lalani, Lantech's vice president of sales and marketing. "It's like you're standing in the kitchen, the pot's on, and you don't know what to cook."
The company has employed as many as 10 people but now gets by with eight. "It's pretty scary, actually," Lalani said.
"It's not just one or two sectors; it's the whole economy. . . . We're hoping for things to get better by the third quarter of this year."
San Diego Union-Tribune
Eminent domain suit vs. Ramona schools revived
Landowner wins appeals ruling...Greg Moran
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/15/
1m15ramona213758-eminent-domain-suit-vs-ramona-sch/?education&zIndex=99667
FEDERAL COURT — A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit by a woman who alleged that if key evidence had not been hidden from her in an eminent domain case, the Ramona school district would have had to pay more for her 52-acre property.
The unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was a victory for Joan Kearney, who has been battling the school district in state and federal courts over the land since 2002.
Her lawsuit was against a business manager for the Ramona Unified School District, the law firm the district hired to handle the land purchase and two of its lawyers. Kearney said a test showed the land could support more development – and therefore was more valuable – but the results were never disclosed when the dispute went to trial in San Diego Superior Court in 2002.
When she later took the case to federal court, U.S. District Judge M. James Lorenz in San Diego dismissed it. However, the three-judge appellate panel concluded Tuesday that Lorenz used the wrong legal standard in throwing out the case. It sent the case back to the district court.
The appeals court did not pass judgment on whether Kearney's claims of misconduct are true. Kearney's lawsuit alleges civil racketeering conspiracy claims and civil rights violations.
Jill Sullivan, a lawyer for Kearney, said the lawsuit is a “David and Goliath” case pitting a landowner against a large law firm and the government.
“This woman owned family property that was her major asset, and in an eminent domain proceeding, they hid evidence to undervalue the property,” Sullivan said.
Mark Zebrowski, a lawyer for the law firm that was sued, Foley & Lardner, said the opinion focused largely on procedural issues and did not weigh the facts. “This decision was based solely on the allegations of the complaint, which the court at this stage had to assume were all true,” he said.
Daniel Shinoff, the lawyer for the school district official, said it was a procedural setback and more fact-finding on the veracity of the claims will have to take place.
The district wanted the land to build a school. When the case went to trial, school experts said it six to eight homes could be built there. A jury pegged the value of the land at $953,000.
But after the trial, Kearney got an anonymous tip that the school district had not told her about the test, which measured how well effluent flowing from septic tanks will sink into the soil.
Such tests are crucial because they can determine how intensely land can be developed where there is no sewer system. Kearney contended the tests showed the land could support more homes and a fair price would be $1.4 million.
She sought new trials in state court but lost, and headed to federal court. School district lawyers have said it is not clear what difference, if any, the test results would have made. The district insists it did nothing wrong.
Washington Post
U.S. Senate to debate nearly $40 billion for clean water...Reuters. Reporting by Lisa Lambert, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/14/AR2009051402551_pf.html
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government could dedicate nearly $40 billion to improving drinking water and repairing sewers under a bill that was approved by the Senate public works committee on Thursday and sent to the full body for a final vote.
The roughly $37 billion bill is more than double the version approved by the House of Representatives in March and would beef up the state revolving funds for water-related projects.
The Senate must pass the bill and then meet with the House to hammer out compromise legislation to send to President Barack Obama to sign into law.
Over five years, some $20 billion would go to clean water state revolving funds, which make low-cost loans and grants to water authorities for building and repairs. Another $15 billion would go to similar funds for maintaining drinking water supplies.
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in February about $2 billion will be sent to the funds over the next two years.
Oklahoma's James Inhofe, the highest ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the federal authorization for the clean water fund has not been modified since 1987, while the drinking water authorization has not changed since 1996.
"In the mean-time the needs have changed," he said, adding the new bill would hike funding levels and change how money is distributed. "It provides more funds for smaller states. And, thanks to the authorization level provided by the bill, it will mean more dollars for every state."
Under the Senate version, New York would receive the most clean water funding, followed by California and then Ohio. Also, 1.5 percent of the allocation would be set aside for tribal governments.
Addressing the recent spike in water pollution from pharmaceuticals and personal care products such as shampoo, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand added an amendment requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to study the chemicals' effects on human health and aquatic wildlife.
At the same time, Senator George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican, amended the bill so the EPA will ensure local communities have the financial capabilities to carry out pollution programs.
Inhofe pledged to fight a requirement that anyone working on a project funded by the bill be paid at least the prevailing local wage when it is debated in the full body, contending the provision will drive up costs for local communities.
The committee's chairman, California's Barbara Boxer, countered that the requirement, which applies the 78-year-old labor law known as the Davis-Bacon Act, would keep costs lower and make sure construction work was done on time.
(For more on infrastructure, please visit: http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/infrastructure)
Chlorinated Liberty
Michelle Obama Brings Big Costs to Little Merced...Posted in Economics
http://www.chlorinatedliberty.com/2009/05/michelle-obama-brings-big-costs-to.html
It was fall of 2005 when the first class of freshmen arrived at the newest campus in the University of California system. Back then classroom buildings weren't ready on the fledgling campus, a former golf course surrounded by cow pastures. For more than a year, classes met in the library and dorm lounges; sometimes, because of construction, the only access was by fire escape. The school itself was struggling to attract students.
Now UC Merced is graduating its first full class of students and preparing for a windfall of publicity. Not because of the landmark occasion for the school, but because First Lady Michelle Obama will deliver the commencement address on May 16, 2009.
According to today’s Merced Sun-Star, what started as a small graduation ceremony has mushroomed into a nearly million dollar gala as UC Merced officials plan for Michelle Obama's first major speech since the election and all eyes are Merced.
As soon as the First Lady accepted the university’s invitation, cost estimates for the event shot up from $100,000 to an estimated $700,000. Some of the costs included in the estimate are as follows:
·        $300,000 for an audio/visual firm to broadcast the event on site and provide a live feed for media outlets;
·        $90,000 for security, which likely will be handled by officers from within the UC system;
·        $15,000 to order six 10-stall restroom trailers;
·        $5,000 for metal detectors.
To be fair, Campus planners are trying to be careful with cash and hoping the bills won't be as high as projected. They have worked diligently to lock up private financing and local sponsorships. Nevertheless, they want the university to shine May 16 when the first lady steps to the lectern - because as we know, the message of Hope & Change comes with a price tag.
Let me be very clear. I do not begrudge UC Merced nor the students for securing Michelle Obama as commencement speaker. It is a HUGE catch for my hometown community of Merced, and the event will bring a tremendous amount of much needed publicity to the new UC and community at large.
However, when one considers the current economic situation of Merced County, it's hard to argue that $700,000 to prepare for the event is a wise expenditure of funds - part of which are taxpayer dollars.
With one in every 65 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, Merced posted the nation's third highest metro foreclosure rate in the nation. Adding insult to injury, the latest unemployment figures put Merced County's jobless rate at 20.4 percent.
Yet somehow UC officials and local leaders believe its a worthy cause to spend nearly a million dollars on the event. Keep in mind that this is a school where in 2006, 43 percent of UC Merced freshmen came from families with an annual income of $40,000 or less. For $700,000 UC Merced could have provided a full year's salary for 20 of those families. It could also provide 70 students another $10,000 each towards their education.
The bottom line is this: if you can make it happen, bring in Michelle Obama, Donald Trump or the Pope as a commencement speaker. More power to you. Just don't ask the taxpayers to swallow the cost.
Side Note: I find it disappointing, to say the least, that the Merced Sun-Star has disabled comments to be posted on their article.